


A New Home

by orphan_account



Series: Forest AU's [5]
Category: In the Forest of Huckybucky, The Huckybucky Forest
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Angst, Fire, How Do I Tag This, Like, M/M, Not, everyone dies guys I'm sorry, graphically though, it's just mentioned, the forest burns down, you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 16:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12845340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A group of humans enter the Forest. In the process, they give Marvin the fright of his life. Oh, and they also set the Forest on fire. It's now up to Marvin to save both himself and Claus.





	A New Home

**Author's Note:**

> In which canon never occurs.

Marvin was faster than Claus was. He was faster than Morten, and most of the other animals in the forest, too. If he wanted to, he could chase them all down. He _could_ , but he rarely did. It had confused Claus, in the beginning. He had seen Marvin run. He knew that he could easily get close enough to grab him. So why didn’t he? After almost a month, Claus’ fear dimmed. A month later, and it faded away completely. It had almost turned into a- into a game, of sorts, to see which one of them would be the cleverest. Which one would trick the other first.

                The fear turned into amusement and joy. It was _fun_ to be chased by a fox- Claus had never seen it coming. Even after ten years, the game continued, and it was still as fun as before. In fact, it might be funnier. They knew each other, now, on a deeper level than you would expect. They knew how the other acted, how he thought, how he felt.

                They knew each other well, yet they had barely ever spoken in a friendly way. Had someone said this to a young Claus, he would have laughed and had a nightmare the following night. But present Claus didn’t find it so weird. Of course, he found it a bit odd that they had this- this _connection_ , but he’d gotten used to the whole thing.

                Claus never outran Marvin, instead letting him get closer than he should and trying to outsmart him.

                In return, Marvin never ran as fast as he could and did his best to win the game.

                Which was why Claus was really, _really_ surprised when, during a game, Marvin had sprung forward, pushing the two of them into the forest, and shoved him to the ground. “Marvin!?” Claus yelped.

                The fox put a paw over his muzzle to shush him, and Claus stared up at him with wide eyes. They’d ended up inside of a bush, and as it was a sunny day the light flickered and played over Marvin’s fur in intriguing patterns. “Shh,” the fox muttered, gaze flickering around. He was hunched protectively over Claus, close, so close, they were barely an inch apart, yet Marvin didn’t seem flustered or affected at all.

                Claus made a whining noise and tried to stay perfectly still. He’d never seen Marvin so concentrated before, his ears were constantly twitching as if searching for a sound, and he was frowning hard. This wasn’t an act.

                Suddenly, Marvin grabbed Claus’ shoulder before crawling backwards and pulling Claus with him. Claus opened his mouth and was about to say something _–what’s going on_ -, but Marvin didn’t stand up. He stayed close to the ground, on all four. “Don’t say anything,” he hissed. “Just get onto my back.”

                “ _What?_ ” Claus whispered hoarsely, disbelief evident in his voice. Marvin wanted him to _what_? Get onto his _back_? _Why!?_

                “Do as I say!” Marvin barked, as quiet as one can bark. Frowning and hoping for an answer later, Claus crawled onto the fox’ back. “Hold on tight,” Marvin warned him, and then he began to run.

                Boy, it went fast- had Marvin not told him to hold on, Claus would have fallen off. As it was, he just bent forward and got a tighter grip on Marvin’s shirt. “Marvin, what’s going on?” Claus yelled. This was getting freaky. Never once before had Marvin done something like this, and he wasn’t the type to randomly decide to give Claus a trip around the forest.

                “You’re not fast enough to keep up,” Marvin yelled back. “Branch!”

                Dodging the low-hanging branch, Claus decided to stay as low as possible and just try to hold on. “Why are we running, then?”

                Marvin halted the speed until he was just walking, and then he stopped completely, panting heavily. “You can get off,” he wheezed between breaths, and Claus slid off. Giving him some space, the mouse backed away and sat down on a stone. After something that seemed like an hour, Marvin straightened up and decided to answer him. “Humans,” he said, as if it should explain everything. “Many of them.”

                “And that was enough to send you running off into the forest like that?” Claus asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.

                Upon hearing this, Marvin seemed to flush and scowl at the same time, as if he couldn’t decide whether he should feel embarrassed or offended. “Sorry,” he settled for, but Claus couldn’t tell if it was sarcastic or not.

                “We’re not playing now, Marvin,” Claus said softly. Well, at least he thought they didn’t- the fear and intense focus in Marvin’s eyes seemed real enough. “You can tell the truth.”

                All the fight seemed to seep out of the fox, and his shoulders slumped. He sat down on a fallen tree, rubbing his eyes with a paw. “I-” He struggled for words for a moment, before he closed his eyes and sighed. “Humans killed my family,” he blurted. “And my friends.”

                A pang of sorrow hit Claus right in the chest, and he made a strangled sound. “I- I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t know… but- but why did you take me with you?” Marvin could’ve just run away alone, leaving Claus to handle the humans. Why hadn’t he?

                “They took what was important to me once, I won’t let them do it again,” he snarled, seemingly without thinking about it.

                “I’m not scared of humans,” Claus said, not thinking too much about the comment now.

                “You should be,” Marvin scoffed. “They don’t care whether you’re small or big, young or old. Young humans are the worst, they won’t even think before stepping on you. My- my uncle, a family friend, was a squirrel. He was ten years old when a human broke his neck. Ten years, Claus! _Humans never care_.”

                Blinking away his tears, Claus rubbed his shoulder awkwardly. “I- _my_ uncle was killed by a fox,” he said slowly, not daring to look up and meet Marvin’s gaze. “It doesn’t seem like animals care much either.”

                “Animals are supposed to kill each other; predator kills prey, predator eats prey. It’s the way of nature,” Marvin sneered. “Humans aren’t supposed to kill animals for _fun_ , yet they do. Animals don’t kill each other for fun; we kill because we have to!”

                There was a pause where neither of them said anything. “When was the last time you thought about eating an animal?” Claus whispered eventually. “Recent moments ago, you told me I was the most important thing to you. That doesn’t sound much like wanting to kill me, now, does it?”

                Marvin froze immediately, eyes going wide and tail limp. “I said that, didn’t I?” he said flatly. “Can we pretend that that never happened?”

                “Nope,” Claus replied cheerfully.

                “Were you close to your uncle?” Marvin asked in a pathetic attempt at changing the subject.

                “For your information, not really, I was three when he was killed, and _don’t change the subject_.”

                Wincing at his harsh tone, Marvin sighed and looked away, ears drooping. “Fine,” he muttered. He was about to say something more, but stopped and sniffed the air. “What’s that smell?” he said slowly.

                “Very funny, Marvin.”

                “No, seriously,” Marvin frowned, getting up from the tree and looking around, still sniffing. “Can’t you smell it?”

                Rolling his eyes and thinking it was a joke, Claus inhaled sharply. His eyes widened and his shoulders fell in a mix between fear and shock. There _was_ a smell. It was faint, and barely there, but- but Claus recognized it. He would recognize it _anywhere_. “Fire,” he whispered.

                A red ear twitched in his direction, and Marvin stopped moving. “What?”

                “Fire, Marvin, it’s fire, you can smell smoke,” Claus ranted, eyes growing wider by the second as his own fear began to take over. Echoes of the past rung in his ears, the crackling sound of flames, screaming, crying-

                Marvin swore. “It’s too much to be a small fire for cooking,” he growled. “Stay here!” And with that, the fox was gone.

                Claus all but fell of the stone, gulping down air and trying to calm his racing heart. “Go away,” he whispered to the memories. “ _Go away_!” They didn’t go away, and when Marvin returned two minutes later he found Claus sitting on the ground and clutching at his shirt. Some of Claus’ fright and panic died down, however, when the red fox came into view.

                “We gotta move,” Marvin said. “Now!”

                Claus didn’t hesitate with crawling onto his back, making himself as small as possible and pressing his face into Marvin’s shirt to hide his tears.

                _And the building collapsed in flames as a young Claus was being pulled away from the ash and the smoke and the danger. “Mom!” he cried, tears streaming down his cheeks as he desperately fought the person holding him down. “Mom! No!”_

_Someone covered his ears, but it couldn’t drown the sound of screaming as the person dearest to him faded away from existence._

_“ **Mom!**_ ”

                _But it was too late_.

                Claus shook his head roughly to get rid of the memories. He’d mourned enough. He’d _cried_ enough, that was _ten years ago_ , he didn’t have the time for this now- “What’s going on this time?” he yelled shakily, forcing his fingers to unclench so he could dry away his tears.

                “The idiot humans,” Marvin bit back. “There’s a fire spreading. A large fire. Forest fire. Largest I’ve ever seen,” he yelled over his shoulder. Well, that wasn’t comforting at all.

                “You’re running away from it?”

                “What am I supposed to do, stop it? You can’t stop fire, Claus!”

                “I know,” Claus whispered. “Trust me, I know.” It was too quiet for Marvin to hear, however, and Claus closed his eyes in relief. “What are we going to do?” he asked instead.

                “The only thing we can do,” Marvin shouted. “The forest’s going to burn down before night falls; unless the humans stop it, and I don’t think they will!”

                “What _can_ we do?”

                There was a pause before Marvin answered. “Find a new home.”

                “But what about the others?” Claus cried.

                “I can’t carry more than one at a time, and by the time we can reach them it’ll already be too late!”

                Choking down a sob, Claus nodded sharply. He understood.

                It was them or the others.

 

*

 

Flames were truly something to be feared. They ate up anything and everything they came across. Including forests. Including homes.

                Marvin was still and quiet next to him, ears flat and eyes wide. “I-” he said. “Do you think they got out?”

                It was impossible to know. The trees were burning, the grass was burning, everything was burning. Claus only felt more or less okay because he was watching it from afar, with Marvin safe and next to him. It was impossible to know if the others were alive, yet Claus shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so,” he whispered. “It spread fast. Fire destroys everything. Unless you know it’s coming, you can’t outrun it.” It felt like his heart was about to explode, and there was a strange tightness in his chest. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he turned away from the horrible vision in front of him.

                “It sounds like you speak of experience,” Marvin muttered. His voice cracked. He might have never felt as if the forest was his home, but he had lived there for many years. He had fond memories from this place, and seeing it burning like this- Claus could tell that it pained him greatly.

                “I do,” he said, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. It was too late; new visions were already etched into his mind, into his soul; visions he would never forget. Claus tried to slow his breath. It didn’t work.

                Next to him, Marvin froze. “What do you mean?” he asked, never once looking away from the flames.

                “My mom,” Claus said. “She- our house burned down. Much like this. I was eight, and- her screams, they still haunt me. I was too late to help her, even- even though I tried.”

                “What about your father?” Marvin said after a long silence. “Couldn’t he do anything?”

                “I’ve never met my father,” Claus whispered, looking up at the fox that refused to meet his eye. “He doesn’t know about me. It was- mom broke up with him, before she knew she was pregnant. And then, when she was about to tell him, he- he moved, and she never saw him again.”

                Without a word, Marvin turned towards him and sat down on his knees. And then-

                then he pulled him close and hugged him tightly.

                Claus froze, body going stiff and eyes wide. Marvin never hugged. It wasn’t a thing he did. He didn’t like physical touch at all, and now- now he was embracing him?

                Wrapping thin arms around Marvin’s neck, Claus exhaled a shaky breath. He had, of course, _wondered_ how a hug would feel, and sometimes –the bad times- he’d almost felt inclined to try it out. This was better than what he thought it would be, however. Marvin was warmer, softer… _nicer_. Not daring to open his mouth and ruing the moment, Claus simply hugged tighter to express his gratitude.

                Marvin and he may never have spoken in a friendly matter, but they cared deeply about each other anyways. Yes, someone might even say that they _loved_ each other on a deeper level; although they, of course, would deny it.

                Love, hate, love, hate, love- _love_.


End file.
